As much predicted, and probably dreaded, Hastings and Rother district, along with much more of the south east, move into the tier 3 group of very high alert from 00:01 on Saturday, December 19 after Covid cases increased rapidly locally and across the region.
This will have a major impact on the hospitality industry as pubs, bars and restaurants are shut down, though the Christmas break provides a very, very brief period when some restrictions ease off. For fuller details see the table below.
And our MP says:
Today our area has moved into tier three, which I know will be incredibly disappointing for local people and a hammer blow to the local hospitality sector. None of us wanted to be in this position, however, the data on the virus is stark. Whilst I am bitterly disappointed with the decision, especially considering how hard we have pulled together to resist the spread of this virus, it is clear to me and the local health professionals that we currently haven’t got control of the virus and infection rates continue to increase rapidly. This is now having a knock-on effect on the pressures of our local health services.
I want to urge people now to really stick to the rules and the guidance. We need to get this virus back under control so we can protect our NHS, avoid the vulnerable getting serious disease or worse succumbing to this dreadful virus.
We are asking a lot of people
I know this is incredibly tough and we are asking a lot of people. We have all sacrificed so much already, but we simply cannot carry on as we with infection rates now well over 500 per 100,000 in Hastings.
Just because restrictions have been lifted over Christmas, it does not mean we must take advantage of them. This Christmas we all need to think carefully about the visits and people we meet. Keep your visits short, your gatherings small and your journeys local. This isn’t going to be a normal Christmas, but in the months to come we can return to some semblance of normal, and return to Christmas as usual next year.
A glimmer of hope
We have the glimmer of hope in 2021 that is the vaccine. It is being rolled out as we speak and this will get us out of this dark moment in time, but until then we need to keep at it with the social distancing and Covid-19 precautions over next few months. We have come so far, let’s not chuck it all away now as we make our way down the final finishing straight.
Image Credits: NHS , UK Government , UK Parliament https://members.parliament.uk/member/4842/portrait Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) .
Oh dear, no mention anywhere of not travelling from tier 3 to tier 2. Rye has been full of visitors from Kent for a while. We were talking to a couple from Canterbury in a hospitality venue on Wednesday. No mention. We watched the BBC news last night No mention. This has been the main cause of infection. Now we are tier 3 and it will move further west. I will be writing to our MP today to point this out as there has been nothing from the government.
For those self isolating or in quarantine, if there is no help on offer from relatives or close friends then Rye Mutual Aid remains operating across Rye and District
https://www.ryenews.org.uk/news/rye-mutual-aid-a-helping-hand
I think everyone should help by wearing a face mask, face covering ALL the time in public places. Is has to be a lot better than wearing an oxygen mask
I agree heartily with Susan O’Leary. It should be mandatory to wear a mask in all settings outside the home. The government has shied away from this but it seems common sense to me. Outside the risk of infection is undoubtedly much lower than inside but it cannot be completely ruled out and masks would go a long way to help.
Yep face masks everywhere except at home makes sense; try and stay 2m away from people and take some hand sanitiser with you. Go out though and exercise and shop local if ye can.
Tier 4 now,and people wonder why, just look at the people around the town,No masks,Some who should know better not keeping to the 2 metre rule for photographs, and now everyone suffers in town,for other peoples selfishness, and short sightedness.
Rather than starting the blame game, which leads us nowhere, I think note might be taken of some of the positive suggestions above.
As time passes, we will probably all admit that living with this pandemic has to some degree become ‘normal’, and we’ve perhaps reverted to old habits. I’ve noted my own slight complacency with regard hand-washing, for instance, and am having to remind myself how diligent I was in March. Back then I was disinfecting every item of my shopping outside the door before bringing it in the house! However, I think it’s time to get serious again. The vaccine is going to take months to make an impact, so anything we can do now will get us out of this mess a lot quicker. Each of our small individual acts makes a difference. I think we need to tune out political atmospherics and do what we know we need to do to keep one another safe.
Hope everyone stays safe and well over Christmas and New Year.